Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2017 Apr 10;6(2):16.
doi: 10.3390/plants6020016.

Antimicrobial Resistance and the Alternative Resources with Special Emphasis on Plant-Based Antimicrobials-A Review

Harish Chandra  1 , Parul Bishnoi  2 , Archana Yadav  3 , Babita Patni  4 , Abhay Prakash Mishra  5 , Anant Ram Nautiyal  6
Affiliations
Review

Antimicrobial Resistance and the Alternative Resources with Special Emphasis on Plant-Based Antimicrobials-A Review

Harish Chandra et al. Plants (Basel). .

Abstract

Indiscriminate and irrational use of antibiotics has created an unprecedented challenge for human civilization due to microbe's development of antimicrobial resistance. It is difficult to treat bacterial infection due to bacteria's ability to develop resistance against antimicrobial agents. Antimicrobial agents are categorized according to their mechanism of action, i.e., interference with cell wall synthesis, DNA and RNA synthesis, lysis of the bacterial membrane, inhibition of protein synthesis, inhibition of metabolic pathways, etc. Bacteria may become resistant by antibiotic inactivation, target modification, efflux pump and plasmidic efflux. Currently, the clinically available treatment is not effective against the antibiotic resistance developed by some bacterial species. However, plant-based antimicrobials have immense potential to combat bacterial, fungal, protozoal and viral diseases without any known side effects. Such plant metabolites include quinines, alkaloids, lectins, polypeptides, flavones, flavonoids, flavonols, coumarin, terpenoids, essential oils and tannins. The present review focuses on antibiotic resistance, the resistance mechanism in bacteria against antibiotics and the role of plant-active secondary metabolites against microorganisms, which might be useful as an alternative and effective strategy to break the resistance among microbes.

Keywords: antibiotic resistance; antimicrobial; mechanism of action; plant metabolite.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Various ways of resisting the action of antibiotics [8] (Reproduced with permission from IOS Press and D.I. Andersson).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Iwu M.W., Duncan A.R., Okunji C.O. New antimicrobials of plant origin. In: Janick J., editor. Perspectives on New Crops and New Uses. ASHS Press; Alexandria, VA, USA: 1999. pp. 457–462.
    1. Bush K. Antibacterial drug discovery in the 21st century. Clin. Microbiol. Inf. 2004;10:10–17. doi: 10.1111/j.1465-0691.2004.1005.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization (WHO) Antimicrobial Resistance. WHO; Geneva, Switzerland: 2002. Fact Sheet No. 194.
    1. Styers D., Sheehan D.J., Hogan P., Sahm D.F. Laboratory-based surveillance of current antimicrobial resistance patterns and trends among Staphylococcus aureus: 2005 status in the United States. Ann. Clin. Microb. Antimicrob. 2006;5 doi: 10.1186/1476-0711-5-2. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gandhi N.R., Moll A., Sturm A.W., Pawinski R., Govender T., Lalloo U., Zeller K., Andrews J., Friedland G. Extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis as a cause of death in patients co-infected with tuberculosis and HIV in a rural area of South Africa. Lancet. 2006;368:1575–1580. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(06)69573-1. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources